Digitized mechanical and environmental performance of recycled short glass-fiber reinforced PP compounds supports the transition to more sustainable vehicles.
Manufacturing Intelligence at Hexagon and Sumika Polymer Compounds Europe (SPC Europe), a thermoplastic compound manufacturer, have collaborated to digitise the performance of the new greener automotive-grade polypropylene (PP) compounds, allowing engineers to create parts that are more reusable and have lower carbon footprint for future vehicles.
Sumika Polymer Compounds’ short glass-fiber polypropylene (GF-PP) THERMOFIL HP and recycled polypropylene (GF-rPP) THERMOFIL CIRCLE materials benefit from sustainable manufacturing and recycling processes, providing carmakers with performance comparable to incumbent engineering plastics but with a carbon footprint up to 60% lower.
“With aggressive sustainability targets and an increased focus on recycled materials, there is growing demand from Indian automotive companies and OEMs for sustainable materials. However, adoption has been slow because getting an accurate understanding of the characteristics of recycled materials is often a difficult proposition. Our partnership with Sumika will help address this challenge to a large extent and boost the adoption of sustainable materials in India,” said Sridhar Dharmarajan, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Hexagon India.
This vital engineering data is the result of a long-term partnership between the two companies, providing product development teams the ability to evaluate the suitability of GF-PP compounds in new designs to address carbon-neutral targets by replacing traditional engineering plastics.
